In commercial crab fishing, a crab pot is dropped to the sea floor with a crab line (rope) attached to the bridle of the pot. The free end of the crab line is attached to buoy rigging so that the free end of the crab line is suspended near the water surface. The buoy rigging of a crab pot typically includes two buoys and two lines: a diver buoy and diver buoy line, and a trailer buoy and trailer buoy line. One end of the diver line is secured by knot to the free end of the crab line, and the opposite end of the diver line is secured to the diver buoy, so that the diver buoy keeps the free end of the crab line near the surface. One end of the trailer line is attached to an intermediate section of the diver line, and the opposite end of the trailer line is secured to the trailer buoy. The trailer buoy floats apart from the diver buoy in the direction of current and/or wind, so that the trailer line becomes a bridle, near the water surface, which can be easily caught with a grappling hook to bring the trailer line aboard and haul up the pot by the crab line.
Presently, it is common to attach the diver line to the trailer line using a line splice and an annular grommet that is slipped onto the diver line. In particular, before the diver line is attached to the crab line, a grommet is slipped onto the diver line, and two overhand knots are tied 16 to 24 inches apart on either side of the grommet to restrict its movement along the line. The trailer line is then line spliced to the grommet. The grommet allows the trailer line to turn independently of and slide up and down the diver line, with tides, currents, wind and waves. However, as the diver line spins inside the grommet and the grommet slides between the knots, chafing of the diver line occurs. As wave and tide action raise and lower the diver buoy, a circumvolution of sorts is caused. The diver line winds up one way until it becomes so tight that it can no longer wind in that direction. The diver line then reverses its motion and winds in the opposite direction, almost to the point of contortion. This action continues from the moment the crab pot reaches the sea floor until it is pulled aboard, which can at times be several days.
The resulting chafing of the diver line eventually causes the diver line to break, unless the diver line is replaced on a regular basis. Unfortunately, repairing and replacing chafed diver lines is time consuming and expensive, and takes away from time spent fishing. If a diver line is not regularly replaced, expensive gear can be lost. Not only is the loss of a rigged crab pot itself quite expensive, if a pot is lost and no longer fishing, it is no longer a source of revenue. With the reduction of fishing quotas and the introduction of crab pot limits per boat, the loss of a single pot can amount to a substantial loss of income. Furthermore, with each lost crab pot there is needless waste of crabs. While the netting of a crab pot is required to include cotton twine that rots over time, this twine rots out slowly and many crabs will be trapped and die in the lost pot before the twine rots open. In fact, each season many thousands of crab are trapped and wasted in lost posts.
What is needed is a device that reduces chafing of the diver line by the grommet. The device should reduce chafing while still allowing the diver line to spin independently of the trailer line. The device should also be inexpensive and easy to install. The present invention provides a device that meets these and other needs.